The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemum×morifolium, commercially grown as a perennial garden Chrysanthemum, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Empire Emma’.
The objective of the breeding program is to create new perennial garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having uniformly rounded plant habit, inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in October, 2002, in New York Mills, N.Y. of Chrysanthemum×morifolium ‘Empire Harmony’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,830, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Chrysanthemum×morifolium identified as code number G01-12, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in New York Mills, N.Y. in September, 2003.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum by vegetative cuttings was first conducted in a controlled greenhouse environment in New York Mills, N.Y. in October, 2003. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.